That Little Clearing
by Ace Clover
Summary: Haru had found herself a save haven. Yamamoto had found himself a new hobby. Oneshot.


**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, just this story :)

Happy reading!

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"It's really peaceful." Haru mused while slowly closing her eyes, she let droplets of rain washed her body. She stretched her leg and did series of movements that she knows so well. Haru loves gymnastic, not as much as making costumes, but enough for her to diligently practice her movements. She knows that she's really clumsy, thus the reason why she joins gymnastic — to become less clumsy.

Her eyes fluttered open, she saw the clearing was muddy with water. But that didn't make it less beautiful, the clearing was covered with grass and flowers, but there's a place in the center where it was not covered with anything — only soil (and mud, but that's beside the point). The grass's shade was a reddish-orange because of the season, and maple leaves flew here and there from nearby trees.

She found this place more or less two months ago, when she ran away after the celebration party at Tsuna's house. At that time, Tsuna had succeeded in confessing his feelings to Kyoko. Everybody was in so much joy that they congratulated them, and she was no exception. She had given them her blessing with her best fake smile. Of course, they didn't realize anything wrong. They had thrown a party right away in Tsuna's house. She had gone home first, "I must make a dinner for Daddy" was her excuse back then. They had accepted her reason and after many goodbyes she closed the door to Tsuna's house and ran away. She hadn't known where she was going, but it didn't matter. Tears were overflowing from her eyes and her vision blurred, but she kept running. She had kept running even though her lungs felt like they would burst. After a while, she had finally stopped running. She had stopped right at this place.

At that time, she dropped to her knees and cried her heart out right away. After a while, her crying had subsided into sobs and sniffles. She had felt her eyes became heavy and she dropped onto her back. The clearing was dirty and rather humid, but she didn't care. She had curled into a ball and went into a dreamless sleep.

What she hadn't known is that someone was watching her from afar.

**LINE BREAK**

Contrary to popular belief, Yamamoto Takeshi is _not_ dense. He had known something was wrong when he saw Haru giving them fake smiles. But it seemed that he was the only one who noticed her fake smiles. Sure, her smiles were pretty convincing to everybody else, but not to him. To his eyes, her smiles were strained and overly bright; like she was forced to smile when she doesn't even want to.

He grimaced as he heard Haru excused herself from the party because she was supposed to cook dinner for her dad; that was a lame excuse. It was already nine in the evening; if she really wants to cook dinner, she should have gone home at seven or even before that, when this party hasn't even started. But to his surprise, the others were buying it. He thought that Sasagawa-chan would at _least_ notice that something was wrong, but no such thing happened.

So a little after the others (and him) said goodbyes to her and she had exited Tsuna's house, he also excused himself from the party, fully intending to catch up with her.

"I hope she hasn't gone too far away," muttered Yamamoto as he looked left and right, searching any signs of her. And there she was, running away with neck breaking speed. "Whoa, I never know she could run _that_ fast." He said, amazed. "Oops, no time for this." So he ran after her at a slower pace. As his legs were longer than hers, he caught up to her with little to no difficulty. But he maintained some space between them since he didn't want her to know he was there yet. Soon, they arrived at a clearing 15 minutes from Tsuna's house. '_I never knew there was a clearing here,' _thought Yamamoto in wonder as he looked around. '_A beautiful one too.'_

Yamamoto woke up from his musing when he realized Haru suddenly dropping to the ground and crying her heart out. The sight of the usually bright and cheerful girl, now crying her heart out in front of him made his chest tighten with pain. He wanted to reach out and comfort her in his arms, but somehow he knew that she needed this; she needed to let out everything that was locked in her heart. He watched her as she continues to cry until it subsided to sobs and sniffles. He watched her as she dropped onto her back and fell asleep.

Even though it hurts, Yamamoto just turned around silently. With a last glance at the sleepingHaru, he walked back home.

**LINE BREAK**

Somehow after that little scene at the clearing, Yamamoto made it a routine to watch after Haru in that same clearing. He would still hang out with Tsuna and the others at Tsuna's house (or somewhere else), but every now and then he would go to the clearing, as Haru seemed to love going there. He noticed that after the party two months ago, Haru slowly grew distant from everybody, and he was no exception. It worries him, so today he determined to break the walls she had made around herself and makes her happy again.

With that in mind, Yamamoto took his blue umbrella from its place beside the door, and walked into the rain.

As he walked to the direction of the clearing, he thought back to the things that happened in the span of these two months. Because of his little routine, he noticed many things his friends failed to notice about Haru. Like how Haru doesn't mind about her appearance. He had seen how she would lay on her back on the ground carelessly, like she had no care about the rest of this world. But he knew better now. After watching her for two months, he knew that the only reason Haru would come here was when something bothered her.

He had figured out sometime during his routine the reason why Haru left the party at Tsuna's house. It was because of Tsuna's confession to Kyoko; the reason why there was a party itself. And the second time Haru came here was because her friendship with Kyoko became strained; she blamed herself for that. Next was because she had an argument with her father, and so on. That clearing had become her safe haven. But today…today he didn't know why Haru went there. He knew she went to the clearing because she had excuse herself from the group earlier today. She had always done that when she wants to go there.

Yamamoto shrugged mentally. '_It doesn't matter anyway. I will just announce my presence once I got there and talk to her."_

**LINE BREAK**

She got here earlier than usual, but that doesn't matter. It was raining; just a bit more than drizzle, but still raining nonetheless. But that's okay;after all, she loves rain.

After she threw her bag onto the muddy ground, she did a series of warm ups and stretches. Unlike every other day, she came here not because she had problems. Quite the opposite, really. She had sorted things out with Kyoko, had made her Dad proud as she got the top three position in her school, and her coach had even praised her for her improvements on gymnastics. Then why had she come here?

'_Why, indeed.' _Haru thought distractedly as she gazed upon the grey sky. Well, actually she knew why she was here; she wanted to practice for the upcoming National Gymnastic Contest. But why here of all places, she didn't know. '_Maybe because this place is very dear to me.' _She smiled. That much was true.

Without another thought, Haru fell into a series of acrobatics. She did the cartwheel, front flip, back flip, somersault, roundoff, salto, and other moves gracefully. She did not heed droplets of rain that fell onto her face and body as she recounted all the moves her coach had taught her.

_Do not think. Let your body remember what your mind cannot._

She remembered her coach had said that repeatedly every time she paused to think what the next move is. At that time, she had taken that as an insult to her intelligence and reacted badly. Now, even before she thinks, her body had moved into the next series of moves. She giggled softly, mentally noted to thank her coach the next time she sees her. Just when she started to do the next move, a deep and heavy masculine voice from behind her broke her off her thoughts.

"Haru."

**LINE BREAK**

Yamamoto reached that clearing just in time to see Haru doing her gymnastics. Boy, was he lucky or what?

He watched in fascination as Haru does some familiar acrobatic moves (but for the love of him, he cannot recall the names even after he racked his brain) with some twirls and stretches slipped here and there between those moves. She seemed like she was not bothered at all by the rain as they dropped onto her face and body, drenching her school uniform in the process.

He swallowed soundly as he saw how Haru's clothes became skin tight and wrapped snugly around her body. He tried (and failing) to not see how Haru's skirt danced teasingly, revealing smooth thighs…and short spandex inside. '_Of course she wears spandex;she's a gymnast for God's sake!'_ He berated himself as his cheeks turned pink. He wanted to punch himself for being disappointed at that revelation, but at the same time he felt relieved; he didn't know what he would do if Haru didn't wear spandex inside her skirt…

His face became red because of his vivid imagination. Yamamoto cleared his throat awkwardly and called Haru out to distract his mind from wandering to something he did not (or did) want.

"Haru." Yamamoto cringed at the sound of his own voice. It sounded rough and heavy somehow, so he tried again, "Haru!" He stopped himself from releasing a relieved sigh as Haru turned around to face him; she didn't seem to hear his weird voice from before.

Haru's eyes widened in surprise, "Hahi! Yamamoto-san! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed as Yamamoto jogged to her. He just gave her a lopsided grin and a pointed look, "I can ask you the same question."

"Ah, w-well..." A gust of wind suddenly blew, making her drenched body shiver from the coldness of the air. Yamamoto saw this and easily took off his yellow jacket and draped it around her body. Haru gasped in surprise, "Eh? What about you, Yamamoto-san? You're cold too!" Even as she said it, her body shivered again and she unconsciously pulled Yamamoto's jacket even tighter around her petite body.

Yamamoto shrugged, "It's okay," He continued when he saw Haru wants to object, "I'm not the one who was drenched in the rain." Haru couldn't deny that, so she just smiled sweetly and said "Thank you, Yamamoto-kun."

He nodded in reply even as his face tinted red and looked around, "Let's get out of this rain," he suggested hastily and pointed to a big tree on the side of the clearing, "Let's sit over there, Haru!" Yamamoto grinned and took her hand in his; he pulled Haru to that tree and sat down, pulling Haru with him.

Haru glared at him, her mouth settled into a pout. "Yamamoto-kun, that is no way to treat a lady!" She scolded him playfully, but Yamamoto just grinned in reply. Hearing no reply from her companion, she leaned her back against the tree trunk and watched the rain pour in silence.

His eyes were still glued to the pouring rain, "Haru…" when Haru gave her full attention to him, Yamamoto continued, "Why are you avoiding us?" Haru flinched at this, her eyes widened. Turning his head a little, he looked deep into her brown eyes, "Why did you do that?" he asked with a serious tone.

His eyes seemed to see through her soul, and Haru found that she didn't have the strength to lie to him. "Ah..." She took a deep breath to calm herself, but she cannot avoid the tears that pooled in her eyes. She laughed mentally, '_So I _do_ have a problem bothering me.' _"I just feel that…after they got together," Yamamoto knew she was referring to Tsuna and Sasagawa-chan, but decided not to interrupt her. "I've got no place in the Famiglia." She continued quickly when he looks like he wants to protest, "I-I mean…Tsuna's going to be a Mafia Don, so when they got together, automatically Kyoko-chan will be a Madonna. I feel out of place." She finished quietly, her head facing down. Yamamoto couldn't see it but he knew that tears were pouring from her eyes.

"Well…you can't do anything about that," Haru looked stricken and tears began to flow uncontrollably, Yamamoto was shocked at her reaction, hurrying to stroke her back in an effort to comfort her. "W-wait! That wasn't what I meant!" He said in a panic, "I was trying to say that you can't do anything about Tsuna and Sasagawa-chan going out. But Haru, you are wrong. About you don't have a place in the Famiglia, I mean." At these words, Haru looked up from her tears and gazed at Yamamoto questioningly.

Yamamoto explained, "Since the first time you met Tsuna, you are part of the family. And whether you like it or not, the moment you keep hanging out with us you get dragged into this part of the world. The Mafia world." He took Haru's shivering hands from her lap and with his other hand he tilted Haru's head so he can look at her properly. "You _are_ part of the Famiglia, Haru."

Haru shook her head, "But I don't have any purpose! I'm not like Chrome-chan who can fight and I'm not like Kyoko-chan who is everybody's pillar of normality in this Mafia world." She denied fervently.

Yamamoto started to look frustrated but continued to speak with a firm tone, "No, but you are our pillar of support. Your positive energy gave us strength and another reason to come home." When Haru still looks doubtful he continued, "And Lambo sees you as his mother, Haru. Just second from Tsuna's mom. He _needs_ you to be there for him. Heck, _I _need you." He realized what he just said and his cheeks turned into a pink tinge, blushing scarlet. He didn't take those words back though. He looked at Haru to see her reaction and found her smiling gratefully at him.

His blush faded away and he found himself smiling back at her. Haru shook her head softly and squeezed his hand. No words were spoken but they understood the words that hung in the air of silence.

_Thank you for being here._

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Please review! I want to know what you do you think about this story, this is my first KHR fic :)

Critiques are appreciated!


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